Citing ‘repeated sabotage’, Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has fired a number of its workers with a view to protecting the integrity of the 650,000 barrels-per-day facility.
In a letter dated September 24, 2025, signed by the Chief General Manager, Human Asset Management, Femi Adekunle, the refinery said it was “constrained to carry out a total reorganisation of the plant” following “many recent cases of reported sabotage in different units of the Petroleum Refinery leading to major safety concerns.”
Affected staff were instructed to surrender company property to their line managers and obtain clearance before receiving their entitlements, to be computed by the Finance Department in line with service conditions.
However, a senior official dismissed reports of a mass sack, insisting the exercise was not a termination but a system-wide “clean-up” to identify and block sabotage.
“Yes, the letter is correct. But the interpretation is wrong. The interpretation is that it affects some people because of certain things discovered in the refinery. It has nothing to do with unionism or anything like that,” the official told The PUNCH.
He added: “It doesn’t mean they have been sacked. That is incorrect. What was done was to put a check in place. It is more like a clean-up in the system to check where those sabotage and leakages are coming from and then address them. As soon as the issues are addressed, they will be reabsorbed. That is why it is not a sack and that word wasn’t used.”
The official explained that the sudden execution was deliberate to prevent implicated staff from concealing their actions. Operations at the refinery, he maintained, were ongoing, with both Nigerian and expatriate workers still active.
“As we speak, people are still working at the refinery. The people affected know themselves, and those who did not get the letter are not affected. Anyone who doesn’t have a hand in sabotage has nothing to worry about,” he stressed.
The refinery, which began production in 2024, has already faced operational turbulence and disputes with labour unions. The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) recently accused the company of “high-handedness” and flagged safety concerns, while marketers under the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria clashed with Dangote over product pricing and distribution terms.
*Courtesy: THE PUNCH
